Stratics VeteranStratics Legend

It was early, the fog was still rolling in from the Bay of Brittany. Out of its thickness, the apparition of a small sail boat took form. The creaking, slow and long, quiet. Mimicking the ships cautious maneuvers. Cargo was... fragile, to say the least. The rudder pulled left and the ship turned right. Momentum dissipated drastically and perfectly as the ship barely collided with the flush cliffs of Britain.
The most intense moments of the ride at sea was over. One wrong move, and it would rain boats and barrels and bombs over Britain.

The street level clouds made for great cover as the cabalists operated without speaking. One by one they took the kegs off the boat and into the sewers. Surely It couldn't hurt the Cult of Promises chances to level the castle. They worked tirelessly for hours. No speaking, only actions. By the time they were done the entire underground lair of stench and rot was covered in explosives. One fate filled landing from a bull frogs leap. Thats all it took now. Time to move out.
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Something, was wrong. As Cult 1 of 2 exited the sewers they dashed for cover as the sound of marching steel passed them to the west. From the farmers bridge to the castle foot men moved. With a hiss their leader said "What is THISSS!"
They were moving to the throne room. The Cabal must see what is amiss!

There was quite the crew assembled, and the queen had established a medical center. These people, the Guard, they were preparing for something dangerous indeed. But certainly they had not gotten wind of the quiet operation pulled this morning?!?!? Had they?
Sir Cedric Appeared.

And he spoke:

"Greetings I am Sir Cedric.
I have been appointed by Queen Dawn to command
The Royal Britannian Guard in Avery's absence.
You have been summoned tonight for a briefing
An anonymous letter was found and is the objective of our mission.
Queen Dawn does not want panic and chaos to engulf Britain
We must calmly thwart this plot without alarming the citizens of Britain
I will read the letter to you and explain what we must do."
*He unrolled the parchment*"My Queen, You are in terrible danger
The Cult of Promise schemes with the Zog Cabal
The sewers beneath Britain are packed with explosives
The cultists plan to ignite the explosives and undermine
the Castle and set Britain on fire.
Nicholai is with them and he has used the Fire Ruby
to recreate the Sun Gem in his lair but
Something isn't right! The Sun Gem is corrupting
everything it comes into contact with and the Cultists
plan to spread the corruption of the Sun Gem throughout Britannia.
If we are to survive we must strike first and contain the Sun Gem.
* rolls the parchment back up *

"Now that you understand the urgency of our mission
I will explain what you must do.
We must fight the Cultists and diffuse the explosives they have hidden.
There are hidden passageways in the sewers that the Cultists are using.
Once we have disarmed the explosives we will follow the Cultists to their lair.
The letter does not say where to go in the sewers, so we will have to investigate.
That's all for now! Let's move out!"

!They had!

This cannot be! The Cabal was silent on their end. Someone must have seen them when they first met with the Cult of Promise. Nothing they could do now but... Move out...

The masses swarmed into the sewers, and it was true indeed. Whatever had become of the sun gem. Was corrupting indeed. Chaos broke out almost instantly. What were the towering elementals? Had the Sun Gem turned the Cult of Promise in to Mondain like monstrosities? The Tables had turn a 180 here, as the Cabal with the guard had to fight to defend themselves! Everything was different now, all the variables has switched. But how could they make this work for them still....

Conflagrations fired off around the barrels of blackrock laced dynamite but the core of the charge was diffused, the nimble hands of the Royal Britannian Guard. "DAMN THEM!" Dallben thought.

"I will search the tunnles and report back here when everything is clear" - Sir Cedric

Soon enough, yes, all was clear. Dallben made rash, nonsensical, decisions as fast as possible, he was good at this. The Guard had defeated and defused all that was before him. But they had no way to move forward. The Cabal picked up one piece of information last they met. A word, a password.

"essenceofthesun"

Dallben played himself off at the anonymous informant they day before, and told them of this password. He though to himself. If the cult is out of the picture... Perhaps I can take this gem for myself. The thought of the Sun Gem in the hands of an alchemist again...Made him very happy.

The password was spoken, and the guard and their infiltrators moved on.

Lets not even talk about this room, shall we?

The cult certainly made it hard enough to get to their chamber of workings. But after an hour or so of carnage, the guard pushed through, and before their very eyes was the object of Cear's obsession.

There were more corrupted servants of the cult here, far more powerful. The corruption varied directly with proximity to the sun gem. No match of course. No match to the numbers there. And eventually Nicholai was spotted and called down by Cedric to face his judgment.

It was almost respectable, what was before Dallben and his followers. They found beauty in what the gem did to that man. There was love there. Passion and respect, as Dallben threw a bottle of fire straight into its heart.
The clash broke out at once. The echo of steel on steel sent men to their knees. The mages took range and action as the essence of what was once Nicholai sapped the lives from the room. The fall was steady but not equal, for ever man we lost Nicholai was twice that closer to death. Then the archers who lacked clear shot climbed the pillars and helped deplete the man of his own existence. He was no more.

There was nothing left for The Zog Cabal to do now but wait for the Sun Ruby to me moved by Cedric and the lands Royal Mages. So they sliped into the shadows as the Guard headed back with the dead to the castle, for celebration and mourning.
What, a morning.​

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